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On a late night back in December 2007, Tenzin Norbu, a Tibetan born in India, arrived in New York in a Dhachay, the traditional red robe of a Tibetan monk. After 25 years of being a Buddhist monk in different institutions in Nepal and India, after a dispute with the monastery, Norbu had decided to make a new life in the US.

In the soundslides below, Norbu talked about his new life as street vendor on the streets of Chinatown, New York.

When he received the draft 42 years ago by the army to go to Vietnam, Richard Hughes, an actor of 24-year-old, then decided to defy the order, which, in essence, put him subject to being jailed. He then still went to Vietnam with borrowed money from a close friend, two sets of clothes and a press pass from his college paper with view to do something different about the war. He ended up setting up “Shoeshine Boys House” for street kids in Sai Gon and Da Nang, two largest cities of the Republic of Vietnam then. After 8 years (1968-1976), Hughes’ organization has helped around 2,500 street kids with houses and education.

Returning to the U.S. after the war, Richard Hughes continued with his acting career, featuring in films like “the Departed”, “Salt” and comedy shows like “30 Rock”. He also continued working with different humanitarian organizations to help Vietnamese people to overcome the legacies of the war.

In the soundslides below, Richard Hughes talked about his experience in Vietnam and his reunion after 25 years with the street kids in 2001.

As a movie buff, I have a special penchant for classic and foreign films, which usually offer new perspectives and are much better than Hollywood types of instant-noodle-film you may see week in, week out at AMC cinemas. The map below shows the locations of my most favorite cinemas in the city:

An international conference held late last month at The New York Academy found that, in many parts of Manhattan, people were exposed to decibel levels of over 70 decibels, which would create hearing damages over time. Besides hearing loss, daily exposure to these types of levels can lead to stress, heart disease and sleep disruption.

I put up a survey among friends of J-school, Facebook and other work contacts that I know here in New York to find out about their awareness of the issue as well as their solutions to the problems. After three days from Nov 4-7, the survey received 32 responses. Follows are what I’ve found so far:

Just as indicated by the report at the conference, the majority of the respondents (56,25%) are unaware of the risk.

In terms of irritation level (from 1-5), inclination towards the higher end of irritation is much higher (graph attached).

Irritated as they are, most of the respondents (26 out of 32) said they would prefer to stay in Manhattan rather than to move out or change working place. The glamorous, jewel-like traits of the borough still bite.

Of the four noisiest places (Times Square, First Avenue above 14th Street, Broadway in Inwood and the Upper East Side), Times Square stands out as the noisiest. With regards to sources of noise, subway and car honking trump.

To deal with the problem, most of the respondents prefer either noise-cancelling headphones or staying away from the public spaces. Many of “Others” respondents include both of the choices.

After more than forty years working as an actor both on stage and movie, Richard Hughes, 67, has the insider’s knowledge to the business. He sits down with me this weekend and shares some of his thoughts on fundamental principles of acting, the importance of experience as well as the difference between acting on stage and on movie.

Starving isn’t a good tactic. Bedbug can endure long periods in cramped environments without eating or even moving. Yale scientist Joshua Benoit has a live bedbug he has fed once in the past two years and eight month.

It’s not cheap to call in professional to deal with bedbug. Home inspection can easily hit $1,000 and there is no guarantee that the insect won’t return.

New Yorkers are not happy with MTA’s plan to increase fare starting January next year. MTA officials have been received with frustration and anger during hearings with straphangers of five boroughs so far.

Populists have reasons to blame MTA to increase fares during a difficult time of economic downturn. If the proposed hikes take effect it will result in an over 30 percent increase over the last five years. The situation is like a nagging pain that has been going on and on. Still, a look at the whole picture, MTA has its reasons for the increase.

New York City’s subway is also the only one that runs 24/7. In big cities like Tokyo, Berlin, Paris or London most the subway system stops after midnight. In New York, you can return late from party or work at 3 or 4 am in the morning and can still take a subway home. The cost for around the clock travel is a mammoth cost. Construction or maintenance of the system is more intricate: it takes twice as long at least. There have been cases of workers hit by trains during construction as the trains run day and night.

According to Carrano, current fare only covers 70% of operation cost for MTA. The rest comes either from federal subsidies or bond issuance. No New Yorker wants to return to the old bad days of a decayed subway system and it’s time for us to accept the inevitability of the hike.

Paul Zig, 57, has been feeding the birds in Washington Square Park for the last nine years. Every single day, even if it rains or snows, Zig comes here to cater foods to the birds and a squirrel. He gives names to all of them, a flock of 50 All the birds of the Park gather at the exact corner where he usually sits. To Zig, the gift he gets from this is “trust” from the small fowls.